The invention relates to the field of drive belts used to drive tape reels in magnetic tape recorders and more particularly to belts for use in tape recorders subject to extreme environmental conditions including low temperatures.
In one particular type of magnetic tape recorder which for example is described in detail in Von Behren U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,255, a belt which contacts the tape on the reels and which is driven by a capstan is used to drive the tape reels. This type of recorder has found wide application in cassette drives used in computer peripheral equipment. In addition, this type of recorder can be used with particular advantages for the accumulation of digital data in military and commercial aircraft.
However, it has been determined that the commercially available drive belts are unsuitable for use in aircraft recorders that are subject to both very high and very low temperatures that typically range from -55.degree. C. to +71.degree. C. The commercially available prior art belts are limited to a temperature range of +5.degree. C. to +45.degree. C. which is inadequate for aircraft recorder applications.
Another disadvantage of the prior art belts also results from the material composition of the belts which effectively limits the ratio of the radius of a full tape reel to the radius of an empty tape reel to a ratio of two to one thereby resulting in an undesirable limitation in the amount of magnetic tape that can be used on reels of a given size.